Maui tips

[czmom]

I know this is not DVC related, but I know we all love to travel. I am hoping to hear from those of you who have been to Maui.

We leave in a few days and will be staying at the Westin Kaanapali Villas. Our first time on the island! We plan to rent a car and stop at Costco near the airport.

So far we have the Old Lahaina Luau scheduled and a helicopter tour with Air Maui. Other ideas are sunrise on Mt. Haleakala, golf, snuba, hiking, fishing, and relaxing

Any tips or other ideas??

Also, I have to be on a special diet and need to eat gluten/dairy/soy free for awhile. Any restaurants that are accommodating to special diets around Lahaina?

Thanks!

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Everyone must do the drive to Hana at least once.

Ok - really just if you have time. It has beautiful scenery and the road is definitely an experience! The destination is no biggie - it's mostly about what you see along the way.

We've never done Haleakala at sunrise - just enjoyed it during the day. There are many good places to snorkel so you might think of renting gear for the week and stopping at various places during your stay.

 

[Nora03]

Hi
Not sure if it's okay to mention other sites here but Trip Advisor has a very active Maui forum. Wealth of knowledge there. We have our third trip to Maui booked for March. We love it. We haven't done the road to Hana but we've done Haleakala twice. First time was perfect and the second time was a bust. Clouds didn't clear and we saw nothing. People recommend La Perousse Bay in the southern part of the island. Have a wonderful vacation!

 

[JoeA]

Blue Water Rafting is a blast. They take you out on a small Zodiac and you see so much more than on a "regular" snorkel trip.

Not recommended if you have a bad back! It's more of an adventure trip and certainly not a leisurely boat ride.

If you do the road to Hana make sure you stop at the Seven Sacred Pools and go to Charles Lindbergh burial site.

I highly recommend the book Maui Reveled. They have a lot of info on places to see, beaches, restaurants, etc

Enjoy your trip!

 

[sechelt]

I'm not a sun-worshipper so our time on Maui was spent exploring and absorbing as much info and scenery as possible. We used this website

http://www.alternative-hawaii.com/byotgdxm.htm

to plan our adventures. Click on the options to the right of the map and it provides a detailed touring plan and an estimate of the time required. We saw more on our first trip than my co-worker had in 5 visits.

Enjoy!

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I'll add that I've twice down a snorkel tour over to the little crescent spit of land off of South Maui - Molokini - and enjoyed that. The boats have always kept watch for other sea life on the trips over and back and the half crater is another nice place to see lots of fish.

 

[jekjones1558]

Our favorite evening thing is Warren and Annabelle's in Lahaina. Show is just fabulous. Love, love, love it.
http://www.warrenandannabelles.com
We always take a drive to Paia. Great little town and we enjoy watching the amazing windsurfers near Mama's Fish House.

 

[jani3]

Another vote for the Road to Hana trip. Try to use a tour company for this so you won't have to pay attention to the road while trying to sight see. We used a company that did multiple stops along the way, then had a great lunch at a restaurant at the end (included in price), and flew back via helicopter to the starting point.

We also did the molokini scuba diving and that was great. Clear waters and the area was protected by the little crescent-shaped island.

 

[Dean]

Our favorite evening thing is Warren and Annabelle's in Lahaina. Show is just fabulous. Love, love, love it.
http://www.warrenandannabelles.com
We always take a drive to Paia. Great little town and we enjoy watching the amazing windsurfers near Mama's Fish House.

This is the one thing I always suggest. It looks like you are in luck as Warren himself is performing coming up. As for Hana, I think it depends. For those who tend to get motion sickness I'd avoid it completely but for the rest it's a nice trip. In part it depends on how long one is there, for a full week or more I'd say do it but for less than a week as the first trip, I'd say no. The Iao needle and area is very nice and not that far. Up country is interesting and Haleakala is a must do over Hana. For restaurants Leilani's at the Whalers village is our first choice. I'd not as enamored with their other restaurant nearby, Hula Grill. I haven't tried their downtown location of Kimo's. Just walking around Lahaina is worth the time.

 

[czmom]

Thanks so much everyone!

I have the book Maui Revealed and plan to read it on the plane ride.

Warren and Annabelle- we actually saw him a couple years ago at our church. He was so good!

Road to Hana- I do get car sick. But we will definitely look into it!

 

[jekjones1558]

Thanks so much everyone!

Road to Hana- I do get car sick. But we will definitely look into it!

I got really car sick on the Road to Hana, but I made the mistake of sitting in the back seat. I don't plan on ever doing it again but I would suggest front seat and motion sickness pills if necessary.

 

[G'sMaman]

We did the road to Hana on our last trip and both my daughter and I got very car sick on the ride back down - even after I took a motion sickness pill earlier in the day. My husband was unaffected, but he was the one driving. One tip that another disboard friend shared was to get the Gypsy guide for our road trip. Absolutely worth it! Enjoyed our road trip so much more with an audio guide and learned more than we would have otherwise. Here's more info:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attracti...ews-GyPSy_Guide_Maui-Lahaina_Maui_Hawaii.html

On the road to Hana I would also suggest stopping by the organic fruit stand off the road. The fruit was amazing and they had some exotic fruit that we'd never seen before. Really fun to try them out. The mangos were the best we've ever had.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Thanks so much everyone!

I have the book Maui Revealed and plan to read it on the plane ride.

Warren and Annabelle- we actually saw him a couple years ago at our church. He was so good!

Road to Hana- I do get car sick. But we will definitely look into it!

If you get car sick but no one else does then at a minimum you would want to do the driving or if sitting in the front is enough to not get queasy do that. Otherwise skip it or you'll probably be miserable.